Pittwater Life Febraury 2024 Issue

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Aiming for sustainable swimwear success News For many mainstream swimwear companies, you suspect the idea of sustainability and reducing their carbon footprint is a necessary evil; a box-ticking exercise to ‘greenwash’ their brands. For three enterprising women on the Northern Beaches though, it is at the centre of their ideology. Alexandra Dash created her company Shapes In The Sand over a decade ago and continues to lead the way in sustainable materials and practices. Tegan Kirkby started her business – The Someday Co – with her husband three years ago during the first round of COVID lockdowns. Meanwhile, Amanda Murray is going through the hard yards of start-up, regularly travelling overseas in search of the right materials and manufacturers ahead of her range Tao Tui’s impending launch. All three women are based on the Northern Beaches, which has been a big factor in shaping their desire for cleaner oceans. “I love nature and spend a lot of time outdoors,” begins Alexandra Dash. “My partner and I love bushwalking, rock climbing, camping and he’s a big surfer – I’m learning, too. “I think of nature as our playground and want to look after it.” At the end of her time studying fashion at Ultimo TAFE a decade ago, Alexandra started Shapes in the Sand. Wanting to support the environment, she started working with sustainable materials that most companies had yet to embrace. “I threw myself in at the deep end,” says Alexandra. “Initially it was very hard. It’s mostly just me and I’ve had to learn from my mistakes. “I get some help from my parents with packing orders and so it’s a family business to some extent. I live at Mackerel Beach and have my studio in Umina, and everything is manufactured locally by another family-run business.” Each collection that Alexandra has released has been designed by herself or local artists and has aligned with a local conservation project. Recently that has been the Powerful Owl Project run by Birdlife Australia. Hoping to diversify from swimwear in the future, Alexandra also strives to improve her footprint further. “The fabrics I use are derived from waste that is destined for landfill,” explains Alexandra. “It’s durable, quick-drying and is given new life – but it can still have some effect on the environment, even though it’s recycled. “I’m keen to move towards an even more natural fibre, and there is a lot of testing involved.” Amanda Murray from Dee Why is right in the middle of testing products and is experiencing many of the things that Alexandra did 10 years ago. Recent months have seen her travel to Bali and Hong Kong in a bid to get the most ecofriendly materials and processes for her new company Tao Tui. Along with helping the environment, she also wants to help women who have limited choice when it comes to swimwear. 16 FEBRUARY <strong>2024</strong> The Local Voice Since 1991
“I wanted to create a product for women who are larger in the chest area, but not necessarily XL everywhere,” begins Amanda. “Swimwear is based around a C- cup size and whereas there are 40 different sizes of lingerie available for women, there are only five sizes of swimwear – and this is for something you wear in public. “The difference with the swimwear I’m creating is that it has a sizing band, like on the shoulder strap of a bra, rather than just string. It’s fully adjustable and ideal for women who don’t fit conventional sizing.” INNOVATORS Tegan and Grant Kirkby started The Someday Co with offerings including a one-piece Kids swimwear range (above) and retro surf shorts and top (left); Alexandra Dash’s Shapes in the Sand features the stylish Bush Checker (top); and Amanda Murray has developed an adjustable bikini top range (left). Having come up with the idea two years ago, Amanda started working on the project in May 2022, but ramped things up last year. “Finding a manufacturer has been slow and arduous and has taken me to Bali, twice, and Hong Kong in the past few months,” she said. “I’m investigating manufacturers who can print digitally on the materials I’m using. “The reason it’s taking longer is that I want to embrace as many sustainable options in the product as possible. Yes, some brands use sustainable materials, but what about sustainable packaging? And some dyes that companies use have terrible carbon footprints.” Previously a SCUBA instructor and describing herself as an ‘ocean girl’, Amanda also studied fashion in London. Even with that background though, she’s had to learn the hard way. “I’m a bit of a risk taker, but when I want something I go after it,” she said. “So it’s been stressful, but I want to create a successful Indie brand that hopefully becomes profitable enough by the second year for it to become my full-time job.” “I’ve already had heaps of interest, and many women saying ‘I need this!’” Tegan Kirkby is in the third year of running her company The Someday Co; she thinks it will be another two years before she can give up the day job. “It’s still a ‘side hustle’ for me and my husband,” said Tegan. “We have two full-time roles and two young children, so we tag-team with the kids and work on the business weekends and evenings. Luckily we have two good sleepers!” Tegan’s mission is to rid the world of ocean plastic and so her business retails ecofriendly swimwear brands. Launching from her lounge room floor during COVID, it was driven by her search to find these brands and products for herself and her kids. “We’d just had a son and wanted to make changes to benefit his world,” explains Tegan. “And I began to think there must be other people thinking the same way. “We thought we’d give it a shot, and while we both had ad backgrounds, we needed to learn e-commerce and stock management. It started slowly, but sales are up 60% year on year, and you find that most ‘overnight successes’ have been started 10 years before!” Soon to start manufacturing their own brand as well as selling others, Tegan says that kids and women’s surfer makes up the majority of their sales, while eco-friendly sunscreen and sunglasses also do well. “There aren’t that many men’s brands doing sustainable lines, but companies are realising they need to tick that box. We’d love to see these products become the norm though. Then we’d just be a surf retailer, rather than a sustainable surf retailer.” – Rob Pegley News The Local Voice Since 1991 FEBRUARY <strong>2024</strong> 17
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Pittwater Life Febraury 2024 Issue

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